Preview

General Motor culture

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3194 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
General Motor culture
IDENTIFY WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE PAST DEFININF ELEMENTS OF THE GM CULTURE.

One former GM employee said the company's management’ CULTURE needs an almost immediate overhaul if GM is to start producing the vehicles it needs to revive sales and return to profitability. This statement indicates there are some things that are fundamentally wrong with GM. To start with, GM faced the consequences for what GOP warned every one about for the last 2 years in 2009 that how our auto industry consumes more oil if we don’t switch from gas guzzlers to electric cars, hybrids, and fuel cells, and the compact cars, the key player in the carbon-conscious automobile market of the next ten years, especially one powered by diesel engine. Also, GM has lost its ability to develop small cars with the sale of its Opel subsidiary to Canadian auto parts maker, Magna. It was an erroneous move by the GM leadership due to lack of foresight on global competition.
And the second biggest problem was the UNION. The unions have too much to say in GM’s work labor on how they get paid for the rest of their kids’ lives. The communist style workers manifesto called a collective bargaining agreement lead to huge debts for GM filing for bankruptcy.
It is another failure of leadership all around starting with Wagoner and his board of directors to the enablers in congress led by a Michigan delegation that looked the other way for years, to the Bush administration and congressional democrats, who proved to be better at panicking and throwing our money at the mess than getting tough.

The auto industry leader, GM, unbothered by competition and looming threats, began to coast on its former glory, however, and bypass such areas as consumer preferences and industry innovation.
Although there are many factors that contributed to the company’s long, slow bleed, the three fundamental issues are management’s consistent failure to do the very things that made the business so successful initially.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Why GM Matters is a book written about the history of General Motors Company and the struggle they endured during the 2008 economic recession. The book is broken into three parts; the first part explains what went wrong with General Motors Company including the workers that would be affected if General Motors Company had to move their production to another country or if they had to close the doors on General Motors Company and let Toyota buy them out. The book also discusses in the first part, the person most people consider responsible for their struggle throughout the recession, Rick Wagoner. The author in the first part conducted many interviews with General Motors Company employees such as, works that worked in the production plant, workers that handled the finances, but most notably, Rick Wagoner. The majority of the first part is about the history of General Motors Company and the consequences that would occur if General Motors was bought out by Toyota.…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the United States has one of the largest automotive markets in the world and is home to 13 auto manufacturers. I am very passionate towards General Motors (GM). General “Motors was founded by William “Billy” Durant on September 16, 1908. Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, MI before making his foray into the automobile industry. At its inception GM held only the Buick Motor Company, but in a matter of years would acquire more than 20 companies including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland, today known as Pontiac”, (GM, 2014) “General Motors has played a pivotal role in the global auto industry for more than 100 years. From the first Buick horseless carriages to technological marvels like the Chevrolet Volt, our products and innovations have always excelled at putting the world on wheels” (GM, 2014). I think one of the reasons I am partial to GM is that my family has always owned them. I can remember my father telling me, “Son there’s nothing like American steel and there certainly isn’t anything better than an American made automotive.” On certain occasions my father would take me to the dealership and seeing how the Service staff provided high level of prestige service just because he owned a 1972 GMC Sierra 1500. Like days of old, GMC is the flagship series line of GM vehicles, a symbol that a person had money and is…

    • 972 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the first 7 chapters of Car Guys vs Bean Counters, it is easy to see why the production line and accounting/financing have disagreements regarding the primary purpose of the company. A considerably large reason for General Motors downfall seems to be the focus they had on the numbers they had to arrive at to generate a large profit. All GM was aiming to do was to do anything to maximize profits without a focus on the quality of the product. The issue of not keeping themselves grounded arose from this very own mindset. Repeatedly, Mr. Lutz pointed out that the “number crunchers” failed constantly and that the focus should be on what matters in the end, the product the customer is receiving and their perception on the quality of the product…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    GM’s vision and main focus is to achieve a healthier margin and profit. Although this vision may not be very easy to attain, is a very realistic one. In spite of the fact that it seemed to be a “once-unthinkable” goal, GM reported its highest-ever net income of about $8 billion in 2011. This was a massive increase from the previous year’s net income of $4.7 billion, and was in accordance with its vision of achieving higher profit. A short while after that, GM also released figures of its global sales, which showed its reclaim of the ‘world's largest auto maker’ title from its rival, Toyota. Based on these facts, I…

    • 1039 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mitt Romney, the republican governor of Massachusetts, wrote an article in 2008 when the auto industry was on the verge of collapse called “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”, the article was about his thoughts on how the impending doom of the auto industry in Detroit should be handled. He expressed that Detroit should not be bailed out by the federal government because that would allow the practices that brought GM and Chrysler to their knees to continue, instead let the GM and Chrysler file for bankruptcy, restructure and emerge better company’s. By filing for bankruptcy his idea was that the industry would shed expensive labor agreements, reduce retiree benefits and allow Detroit to be on par with foreign brands in terms of pay and benefits, which would in turn allow them to compete. He also blamed bad management and expressed that the current management at these companies must be replaced.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    General Motors observed changes warily in the 1990s as the internet was determined to change the automotive industry. GM was the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world, with revenue of $18.5 billion dollars, production facilities located in 32 countries and a workforce involving 325,000 employees. Despite the companies size and power, GM had witnessed their global market share grind down from 17.7 percent in the early 1990s to 15 percent in 2002 due to the declining levels of customer satisfaction and competition from foreign imports. GM had to accept that the industry had changed (Cohen & Shoshanah, 2005).…

    • 1790 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A GM Case Study

    • 551 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It seems in the beginning it was the Analyzers, GM has been following the trend of most other car companies, making more and more cars and offering such a large selection but with sales not following that trend it hurt them financially to the point that had it not been for a bailout that they would of had to of filed for bankruptcy. It wasn't until the bailout that they realized they need to try to do better and took on a more Prospector outlook, with setting numbers and sales goals. Getting rid of so many manufacturing sites, getting rid of the most luxurious and high cost products and names they had been selling such as Land Rover and trying to focus more on a slightly less number of vehicle makes and more on the quality of the vehicle they make.…

    • 551 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why GM Matters is a book written about the history of General Motors Company and the struggle they endured during the 2008 economic recession. The book is broken in three parts; the first part explains what went wrong in General Motors Company including the workers that would be affected if General Motors Company had to move their production to another country or if they had to close the doors on General Motors Company and let Toyota buy them out. The book also discusses in the first part, the person most people consider responsible for their struggle throughout the recession, Rick Wagoner. The author in the first part conducted many interviews with General Motors Company employees such as, works that worked in the production plant, workers…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    critical thinking #1

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages

    GM is a defender. Even though they slimmed down dramatically they still managed to regain their title from Toyota. They are experts at what they make and I am sure they would use the slogan “We're sticking with the basics.” GM wants to down size the number of platforms they use so they can make the most out of the fewer platforms.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chiquita, great work on the discussion, you highlighted the impact and struggles experienced by GM over the years on the American society and the world to be exact since they are a multinational organization. I am in agreement that even though the company has gone through difficult times they are still among the top in the industry throughout the world. Personally what gives great confidence as an investor in GM is the fact that they have gone through difficulties and manage to rebound time and time again. Under the leadership of James D. Mooney, the cooperation survived the economic depression and World War II by being flexible and adjusted to the change in environment (Wren, 2013). Additionally, the other point that gives confidence when…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    General Motors signed a final agreement with the United Auto Workers if the workers would start work immediately. The UAW agreed to refrain from recruiting on General Motors property and go on strike only after every other method for addressing grievances had been tried. In addition General Motors agreed to not discriminate against any United Auto Workers members and drop all of the court charges. General Motors would recognize the United Auto Workers as the only bargaining agent for getting all of its workers back in the 20 plants that had gone on…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    I find this topic very interesting because I have always assumed that GM had better cars and was simply a better company. My last three vehicles have…

    • 2851 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    General Motors is and has been one of the world's largest automakers for over 100 years. GM goes back as far as 1908. GM’s headquarters is in Detroit; however, GM has over 209,000 employees in every core region of the world, and conducts business in over 120 countries. GM and all its associates produce both cars and trucks in 31 countries. “GM also sell and service many of these vehicles through the following brands: Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, FAW, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling (NA, 2011).” GM's leading market nationally is China. After China is the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Russia. “GM's On Star subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services (NA, 2011).” It is because of good ethics compliance, financial filings, and GM’s care and concern to the public that keeps the company striving for perfection.…

    • 2093 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    GM faced a financial crisis in 1990 due to overcapacities, rising oil prices and increasing…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I. Cutting jobs at General Motors is a case that explains the issues taking place, and have been taking place with General Motors (GM). GM is at a place where the only money being dealt with is the money they have to pay their workers. This includes hourly pay, benefits, and pay to their retirees. Since the 1970s, GM sales has been declining. To better the company, and get them back on track, the CEO of GM, Rick Wagoner, announced a restructuring of the company. He explained how he wanted to study the product mix. This also included cutting 2,500 jobs which calculated out to 14% of the workforce. He also spoke about closing some manufacturing plants by 2008. It has been said that General Motors just does not produce cars that customers want anymore, but they have been doing their best to change the minds of those who believe that.…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays